Long-term local educator to fill top spot at Truro Central School

Michael Gradone, the former longtime superintendent of Nauset Public Schools, will fill the Truro School District's top post beginning July 1, the Truro School Committee announced last week.

Erik Borg

The school district will have a new superintendent who is nothing but familiar with Outer Cape schools.

Michael Gradone, the former longtime superintendent of Nauset Public Schools, will fill the Truro School District’s top post beginning July 1, the Truro School Committee announced last week.

Gradone will replace outgoing superintendent Brian Davis, who announced in October his plans to retire. His last day is scheduled for June 30. Davis served as both the district’s superintendent and as principal of Truro Central School.

School committee chair Theresa Humes said the committee never had any interest in hiring a dual principal and superintendent to replace Davis. Rather, Davis had grown into the dual role over his 18-year career with Truro Schools, she said.

“We would never want to do that with all unknown entities,” she said.

Gradone will serve as superintendent in a part-time role with a two-days-a-week time commitment. Beginning next week, he will also play an “integral” role in helping the school committee hire a new full-time principal for Truro Central School, Humes said. The school is the district’s lone facility, housing the community’s 137 pre-kindergarten to sixth-grade students. Truro’s middle school and high school-aged students usually transition to the neighboring Nauset Public School System via open enrollment.

A new principal could be in place by the end of April, Humes said.

Gradone was chosen out of a pool of qualified candidates in large part because of his familiarity with the district, Humes said.

“He’s a known entity. He’s been around the Outer Cape for years. A lot of our staff know him; we know him. As far as our culture, he just fits,” she said.

Gradone will take the job at a time when the district faces a slew of new challenging federal and state mandates that will require an intimate knowledge of the school system, Humes said.

Among them, Gradone will oversee the district in implementing changes to state-mandated testing, core curriculum standards and teacher evaluations.

“Those are the three huge ones, and there are probably about 12 others,” Humes said. “In education today, it’s just a constant, never-ending change environment, so the superintendent really needs to be plugged in.”

Gradone could not be reached for comment because he is currently in Italy on vacation through March 24.

The school committee made its final hiring decision on March 10 following three rounds of interviews with Gradone. The committee entered into formal contract negotiations last week. Gradone’s salary and other details will be made public once negotiations have concluded, Humes said.

Gradone retired from Nauset Public Schools in 2009 and later served as interim superintendent of Chatham Public Schools for a year. He also previously served as the assistant superintendent at Nauset and was principal at Wellfleet Elementary School.

He received a bachelor's degree from Harvard University and a master's degree in education from Westfield State University.